CINEMA: Eagle Vs Shark

Here’s a film for all of life’s losers; a small, subtle, sweet and surprisingly upbeat look at how even the little guys can win through in the end. Lily (Loren Horsley) is a timid fast food waitress in New Zealand with a secret crush on a customer who comes in every day. He’s Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), who thinks he’s the coolest thing on the planet, while he’s actually a nerdy computer games freak with zero social skills.

Jarrod isn’t aware of Lily’s interest in him until she gatecrashes his video game party dressed as a shark and they embark on an awkward, offbeat romance. But something’s bugging Jarrod, he needs to go back to his hometown for a final showdown with the school bully (David Fane) who made his childhood a misery. When Lily agrees to go with him little does she realise it will be a truly life changing trip.

Eagle Vs Shark is poignant, highly stylised and very, very funny – in places inappropriately so, but that just makes you laugh even harder. There’s a touch of Napoleon Dynamite to proceedings, yet director Taika Waititi’s more surreal flights of fancy take the film onto a whole new plane of awkward geekiness.

What keeps the film real are the wonderfully natural performances, not just from the two leads, but also the supporting cast. Lily’s relationship with her brother (Joel Tobeck) is especially touching while Morag Hills as young Vinny displays more maturity than all the adults lumped together. This is one film where you really can’t predict where the plot is going, but it’s a mystery tour that satisfies. Dee Pilgrim